Learn how to make your own pickled beetroot with our simple recipe.
Pickled beetroot makes a delicious addition to any healthy salad or sandwich. Although beetroot has the highest sugar content of any vegetable, they are also incredibly low in calories, making them the perfect treat for guilt-free snacking. Beetroot is ready for harvest from July to October but pickling is a great way to make your beetroot last even longer. Costing next to nothing to make, if you can afford to spend the time to make this pickled beetroot recipe, you’ll have plenty to go around.
Ingredients
- About 1.5kg (total weight) fresh beetroot
- 2.5cm piece cinnamon stick
- 1tsp each black peppercorns, cloves and yellow mustard seeds
- 2tsps whole allspice
- 3 bay leaves
- 2tbsps caster sugar
- 1 litre distilled malt vinegar
- 4 x 500ml wide-necked jars, sterilised
Method
To make the spiced vinegar: Put the spices, sugar and 300ml of the vinegar in a pan. Bring to the boil slowly, take it off the heat and set aside; overnight, covered, if you have time, to let the flavours develop.
Wash the beetroots carefully without rubbing the skin off. Put them into a large pan of boiling water and simmer for about 1⁄2 hours until just tender. Drain them and leave to cool.
Rub off the beetroot skin, then slice the roots (about 1cm thick) and pack into jars. Pour in the vinegar and spices. Cover, seal and label. Leave a week before eating. It keeps for 3 months.
Top tip for making pickled beetroot
Wear washing-up gloves for peeling and slicing beetroot otherwise you’ll have pink fingers for a couple of days.
Make sure your jars are properly sterilised before adding the pickled beetroot mix so you can guarantee freshness. Our guide on how to sterilise jars and bottles is a useful guide to help you do this correctly and efficiently.
